


Can You Feel Myself? {Shelved for Now}

by NanoTwentyFaces



Category: Red vs. Blue
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Emotions, F/M, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Mystery, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-01-03
Updated: 2015-06-17
Packaged: 2018-03-05 02:08:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 14,577
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3101210
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NanoTwentyFaces/pseuds/NanoTwentyFaces
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Everything was fine in Richard "Dick" Simmons life. But, when an accident occurs on a mission with Agent Carolina, will anything ever be the same again?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Change Day pt. 1

**Author's Note:**

> I am very excited to be writing this fanfiction, and will update when I can and as soon as soon as I can! I got the idea for this after I found out that Grimmons was basically canon. Grimmons is the main pairing of this story, but others are mentioned. <3
> 
> (The story takes place post-season 10, but instead of crashing the ship they all went back to Valhalla. And Church has his own body.)

The morning sun beat down hard on the box canyon of Valhalla, embracing it in its heat. The sky had few clouds and a slight breeze whistled through the trees. At each end, sat the bases of the Blue team and Red team. Each occupied with it’s members. For the Red Team: Sarge, Lopez the robot, Donut, Grif, and Simmons. For the Blue Team: Agent Washington, Tucker, Caboose, Church, and sometimes Agent Carolina. Sarge and Washington each being the leader of their team. The two teams allied themselves with each other more than fight with each other. 

After the events of Project Freelancer and finding the Director, the teams settled back down into their bases at Valhalla. It was the only place they could call their home at this point. Blood Gulch had long since been abandoned, and the war didn’t seem to be ending at any time soon. Although, they were only simulation soldiers; they’d never been in any real battles until Tex and Washington came along. None of them even really understood fully what the whole war was about. Washington and Carolina being a part of Project Freelancer could only seldomly answer the question. But, these facts didn’t bother any of them. They’d come to care less about it; being where they were and being together, it became the normal. And maybe even more for some of them. 

Inside the Red Base, Simmons sat on the edge of his cot, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. Getting up, he began to change into his maroon armor. Brushing his reddish-tan hair he stopped to look in mirror in front of him. He stared at the right side of his face; his cyborg half. Back in Blood Gulch, Grif had been run over by a tank, and Simmons gave up parts of his body to save his life, becoming the cyborg he was today. Some days he forgets about it, and then immediately remembers when he takes off his helmet at night. It didn’t upset him, he was more than willing to give up parts of his body to Grif. But, it was something he thought would never happen. Turning away, he puts on his helmet, and grabs his gun propped against the wall. Locking it in place, on his back, he exits his room and walks down the hall toward the main room of the base. Pausing, he turns back to Grif’s door. Simmons contemplates trying to wake up the lazy Hawaiian now, or letting him get woken up by Sarge later. Sighing, he raps on the door with the back of his hand.

“Grif. Come on, wake up man.” He listened for moment, then hears the tired moans, meaning Grif was still asleep when he knocked. “Grif….”

“Go away, Simmonsss…...I’m trying to sleep.”

“You don’t get up, you’re gonna miss breakfast.”

“What are we having?”

“You’ll have to get up and come to the kitchen to find out.” Simmons says leaning his head to the door, his gaze down the hallway.

“Or I could just radio Donut and ask him.” Simmons looks toward the door annoyed.

“You are so lazy.”

“You say that like this hasn’t happened before. You know this by now.”

“Fine then, but Sarge’ll just send me right back to get you up.”

“Alright, just gives me more time to sleep.”  
Simmons hangs his head and arms, “I don’t even know why I try this every morning.”

“I don’t know either. You know you’ll never get me up early. But, hey, I won’t stop you from trying.”

Simmons continues down the hall to the kitchen. Upon entering, he’s greeted by Donut in an apron in front of the stove. 

“Good morning, Simmons”, he says cheerfully.

“Hey, Donut.”

“I take it that Grif is still asleep.”

“Yep. Just like every morning. This is literally the only time of day he will skip eating.”

“At least you never stop trying to get him up. Who knows? Maybe one day you will get him up”

“Well, that would be an absolute #*$&*^% miracle.”

“Miracles are never impossible, Simmons”, Donuts says waving the wooden spoon at him with a smile.   
Leaning his elbows on the table Simmons says, “I bet the Blues don’t need miracles like that.”

 

Meanwhile at the Blue base, Washington knocks hard on a bedroom door.

“Come on, Tucker! Get up!”

“And what? Run more drills? Not today, Wash.”

“Lavernius Tucker, I will kick down this door. And you know I can.”

“Yeah, I think i’m gonna stay here, because that would be pretty #*$&*^% sweet to see.”

“Tu-”

“And then when Carolina and the others come by, you can explain to them why i’m missing the door to my bedroom.” Washington opens his mouth to speak, but is cut off again. “One other thing. Everyone here knows how i sleep, so I’m sure that they’ll all want me to have a door. So by all means, go ahead, Wash”

Washington shakes his head, and pulls his pistol out of its holster. Aiming it, he shoots the lock; the sound resounding throughout the halls. Putting the pistol back in its holster, he pushes open the door and strides in.  
“For the love of God, Tucker, stop sleeping naked!”

Church and Caboose look up from the table to Washington and Tucker walking into the kitchen arguing…..again. 

“You know how I sleep, so you should have seen that coming. And you didn’t have to shoot the lock off. Now what I am supposed to do?”

“I wouldn’t have had to shoot it, if you’d just gotten up when you were supposed to. And so what if your door doesn’t have a lock?”

“If the zombie apocalypse happens, there’ll be nothing to stop anyone from getting in there.”

“ Why would you lock yourself in your own room, in a base with absolutely no doors on the outside?”

“Doesn’t matter now that you took my lock off.”

“Oh for god’s sake….”

“Good morning to you two”, Church pipes in , “I take it the early shots this morning are exactly what you’re both arguing about.”

“Agent Washingtub, isn’t it a bit too early for that? And, I don’t think Tucker is allowed to have any.”

“Not those kind of shots Caboose”, Church states, “I meant gunshots.”

“Oh.... Wait! Were we being attacked? Do you need my help?”

“Caboose, no one is attacking us. Wash here was just breaking my bedroom door.” Tucker says, eyeing Washington. 

“It’s not nice to break other people’s things.”

“I’m sorry, Caboose. But, it’s also not nice to not listen to people when they tell you to do something.” Washington says firmly, eyeing Tucker back.

“Sure, you apologize to Caboose when it’s my door that’s broken.” Tucker says walking over to the counter, picking up a piece of toast. 

“Tucker, I can fix your door later.” Church states.

“Ah, forget it. Wash’ll probably just end up shooting it off again.” Church shrugs, turning back towards Caboose. 

 

Back at the Red base, Simmons stood outside at the edge of the base. Silently, he looked out at the water. He wasn’t really thinking about much. In the distance to the right, he could hear Sarge and Lopez talking. Or more like Sarge pretending to understand Lopez and making up conversation. He exhaled heavily, kind of hoping Grif was up so he could have someone to talk to as well. He wouldn’t admit it out loud, but he liked having Grif’s company. The two had been together ever since training, and then stationed together in Blood Gulch. For a second, he wonders if Grif thinks he same, but then shakes his head at the thought. Grif could probably care less, he thinks to himself. Then again, he thinks back to one day in Blood Gulch when one of them asked: why are we here? Grif seemed to give an emotional, deep answer. Simmons frowned, trying to figure it out. 

“Looks like Sarge is too busy to send you to come and get me, huh Simmons.”   
Simmons jumps, turning around to see Grif walking out of the base. “Wow, you’re actually awake. All on your own.” he says nonchalantly.

“Well I can’t sleep in my room all day.”

“Sounds like you’re getting the idea th-”

“I mean, I gotta find other places to sleep. You know, mix it up a little.”

“Right……” Simmons says turning back toward the water.  
The two stand side by side now, facing the water like always. 

“You ever wonder if we could breathe in space with this armor?”

“It’s possible. I mean, I heard Washington went into space with it one time.”

 

Back at the Blue base, Washington watches Tucker run drills. While inside, Caboose works with Church inside with equipment. 

“So let’s see…..if we put this with this, then we’ll get…….no…..not that…..okay maybe if we….” The radio suddenly clicks on in Church’s helmet. “What? Hello?”

“Church, it’s me.”

“Oh, hey, what’s up?”

“I found something, you may want to see. I’ll be coming to Valhalla shortly.”

“Okay, I’ll go round up the others, see you then.” Church stands up, ending the transmission. “Come on, Caboose, let’s go get everyone else.” Church and Caboose walk outside to Tucker doing push-ups, with Washington’s supervision.

“66…..67…..68….69……”  
Washington facepalms, “Tucker, stop doing only 69.”

“Bow Chicka Bow Bow.” Tuckers says out of breath.

“God $#&*^%.”

Church looks up from Tucker to Washington, and walks over to him. “Hey, Wash, I just got a call from Carolina. She says she’s found something she wants us to see. And that she should be here shortly.”

“Really? So soon? That’s gotta be a record. She only left at least a week-and-a-half ago.” Washington says while rubbing the back of his neck. 

“You’re telling me. I didn’t expect her to be returning so soon.”

“Carolina’s coming back? Already?” Tucker says between breathes, getting up.

“Yeah, Tucker.”

“Great, just what I needed.”

“Tucker, 5 laps around the canyon. Now.”

Tucker slumps, “Great, just what I needed..”, he says as he starts to run.

“Oh and on your way around, stop at the Red base and get them over here.” Church calls after Tucker.

“Yeah, Whatever.”

“Why do you want him to get the Reds?” Washington asks.

“Eh, Why not? They’ve always been around for stuff like this. They usually come in handy at some point.”

“True enough.”

“This is great! It’s going to be one big reunion!” Caboose cries cheerfully.

 

Later that day, Carolina arrives. The Reds and Blues have all gathered at the Blue base; having some resistance from Sarge though.   
According to Carolina, she’d found a figure with a faulty and suspicious project in the works. Their technology looked normal enough, but when Church examines the codes Carolina brought, it is found there is a different function than shown. 

“So, what you’re saying is that you want us, to come with you to take down another crazed technology guy?” Grif questions.

“In a way, yes. You all are my go to squad. I know you are reliable, and I can completely trust you.”

“Did she just compliment us?” Simmons asks looking at Grif.

“Huh? Yeah sure, whatever Simmons.”

Washington steps forward, facing Carolina. “So what exactly is your plan?”

“Don’t worry about that Wash. I’ve got that all under control. Don’t we Church?” She says, turning to the cobalt soldier. 

Church sighs, “Should’ve known you were going to pull that…...Yes we’ve got it under control.”

“So you have it under control, even though you have no idea what you’re doing yet?” Tucker retorts.

“I’m an Alpha AI, Tucker. I’m pretty sure i can say ahead of time that i’ve got this.”

“I can explain the whole plan, on the way there. We just need to move as soon as we can. I couldn’t exactly make myself scarce on my reconnaissance. The &$#%^*@ could move, and who knows when we’d be able to find him again. So our best bet would be to strike now.”

“So…what do we need, Carolina? We’ve gotta be fully prepared if we’re taking this guy down.”

“I’ve compiled a list of what we’ll need for this mission. Church?”

“Yep. Already got it. I’ll send it to everybody’s helmets. So once we’ve got it, gather what we need, and we’ll move out.”

 

At the Red base, Grif and Simmons are down in the basement gathering their equipment. Simmons pulls out rocket launcher from a crate. 

“So….another crazy adventure for us.” he says while examining the weapon.

“Yeah, I think we should start getting paid for this. It’s like it’s becoming a job.”

“Technically, it is our job. Maybe you could get “paid” with more breaks.”

Grif pauses then looks at Simmons, “I like the way you’re thinking.”

“Looks like we’ve got everything. Guess we should head back to Blue base.”

“Fine.”

“Just come on. You can sleep on the way to the mission. I’ll fill you in when we get there, like always.”

“Sounds good to me.” Grif says as he puts an arm around Simmons as they walk up out of the basement.


	2. Change Day pt. 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "The mission starts..now."

The Red and Blue teams sat in the Pelican, waiting intently for Carolina to tell them the plan. The female, turquoise soldier steps into back of the pelican from the cockpit. Walking over, she stands in front of the drop door, facing the teams. 

“Alright, we should be at the drop point in ten minutes. We’re going to divide up into teams to cover more area. Everyone will have a partner. You need to watch each other’s backs while in there.”

Tucker chimed in , “Hold on a sec. Do you not even know where the guy is in the place?”

“Of course I know where he is. I’m having us spread out, so that we can find everything we need. This facility has a large area; each team will have a certain area and assignment. Tucker and Wash, you’ll be with me and Church apprehending the “Major”, as we’re calling him.”

“Why Major?” Washington asks. "Kind of a strange name."

Church speaks up from his seat beside Washington , “We dug around in some files, and found out that he used to be a Major in a military group some years ago. Apparently, he was under the command of a branch of Charon industries.”

“Oh, that makes sense.”

“As I said, we’ll be split up into teams; teams of two. Our teams for this mission are: Grif and Sarge-”

“Oh come on!”

“The sun does not want to shine on me today.”

“Donut and Caboose…”

“Yes! I get to be on a team with Sergeant Snickerdoodle. We shall call ourselves the PASTRY TRAIN!”

“And finally, Simmons and Lopez.”

“I guess this works out. Two robots working together, eh Lopez?”

“Técnicamente se trata de un robot y un mestizo , idiota.”

{Technically it is one robot and one half-breed, idiot.}

“Each team has a specific duty here. Grif, Sarge, Donut, and Caboose; you all are on lookout outside of the facility; Team B. You’ll be covering us. Simmons and Lopez, I want you two to check out the equipment they have stored; Team C. Tucker, Wash, Church, and I are Team A. Keep communication by radio.” 

She pauses for a moment, reading the faces of the soldiers. “We’ll be reaching the drop-off point in a minute, get ready.” She walks toward the front of the ship. 

“Hold on a minute,” Grif interjects, “Won’t dropping us off, just automatically give us away. Might as well just ring the doorbell.”

Washington looks up abruptly, “Wait. Carolina, when you say drop-off, do you mean….”

“Yes, Wash, that’s exactly what I mean.”

“Oh no….”

“Agent Wash, care to explain what she means?” Sarge asks.

“When she says dropping us off. She literally means dropping us off.”

“Which means?”

“Well, let’s just say. Hope you don’t have a fear of heights and jumping off of them.”

“Wait, are we jumping out of this plane?!” Simmons asks alarmed.

“Yeah, so suck it up and get ready, because we don’t have another way in.”

Grif stands up along with everyone else, “So…...you gonna hand out parachutes or something?”

“No, we’re jumping. Simple as that.”

“Uh, I don’t think that plan will work out very well.”

“Yeah if you jumped you’d probably explode when you hit the ground.” Simmons comments.

“I will not deny that.”

“You’ll be fine. Your armor should absorb most of the fall, as long as you land the right way.”

“And what way is that?”

“Just don’t land on your face,” Washington interjects.

“Yeah there’s no way we’re gonna survive this.” Tucker says leaning back in his seat.

“We don’t have another way in, so this is what we’re doing. And we don’t have the time to find another way. So, suck it up, and just jump.” she says sternly.

“Sarge, you’ve jumped out of planes before. Don’t you have any advice for us?” Simmons asks turning to Sarge.

“It’s just as the freelancers say. Don’t land on your face, and most of your bones should stay intact.”

“Oh yeah, ‘cause that just made us feel a whole lot better about it.” Grif says.

“Rear bank opening in twenty seconds, get ready people.”

The reds and blues stand up; guns in hand, ready. The door slowly opens, revealing thin clouds.

“Yep, we’re gonna die. Nice knowing ya Simmons.” 

“Look, the sooner you jump, the sooner you can get this mission over with. You’ve crashed one of these things before, so this should be no problem.” Church yells over his shoulder.

“Easy for you to say. You’re an AI. If all your “bones” break, you can easily just get more. Hey, Simmons, in case I forget to or don’t get to say it later…….Ow.”

“Go!”

The soldiers run towards the edge of the pelican. Carolina and Washington jump first, followed by Church, Lopez, and Caboose. The others hesitate for a moment, before jumping. Simmons feels the wind blowing fast through his armor. He falls past clouds, seeing the ground coming closer and closer. His hearts beats faster as the ground fast approaches. Briefly remembering what Wash and Carolina said, he straightens so he’s completely vertical; making sure his feet will hit the ground first. Immediately after he feels himself touch ground, he leans forward, rolling and stopping on one knee. His mind is racing, for a few seconds processing that he was still in one piece. Focusing back on what’s happening, he looks around him at the other soldiers. He breathes of relief seeing every soldier in one piece, especially Sarge, Grif, and Donut. 

“I am never doing that again. Not even for all the snacks and breaks you offer.” Grif says standing up.

“I’ve never felt such a rush before in my life.” Donut pipes in from a few feet away.

“Alright, everyone get into your teams. We don’t have a lot of time.” Church says jogging over. 

“Right, Lopez. Let’s go.”

“OK.”

“Come on, Grif, Donut. Double time.”

“Caboose, get going with them. Tucker, let’s go.”

“Right, right. I’m coming.” 

Church runs to catch up with Carolina and Washington. At the back of his mind he could feel Delta’s presence. A tenseness ran through him. For some reason, he could feel like something isn’t right. He shakes it off. Delta’s been known to always be anxious and negative about things. That was it, right?

 

Meanwhile, on an island not that far away, a man resided inside a building watching security cameras. The room was dimly lit by the glow of the screens. Behind him, two figures stood silently. The taller of the two spoke.

“Sir, it would appear the spy has returned, and brought reinforcements.” 

The man raises his hand, silencing them. “I can already see that. No matter. It won’t do them any good.” Bringing his other hand down, he pushes the stub of a cigar into an ashtray. “Meddling in someone else’s business, is what I will not stand for. When someone gets in my way, they will pay the price of their choice.” He pauses for moment. “You are authorized to move, soldiers. Take care of it.”

“Yes, sir.” the two reply. The taller exits, while the other lingers in the shadows of the room. Their eyes are firmly locked on the screen. 

“Is there something wrong, my dear?” the man inquires slightly turning his head towards them. “Perhaps you see something that has caught your attention?”

“Perhaps…..” They reply blatantly, before walking out of the room. 

 

The small, stout click of heels resounded down the halls as they strode towards the hangar. Doors automatically slid open to the hangar where a huge ship sat, docked. Crew members scrambled around, gearing up and loading supplies onto the ship. Next to the ship, the tall soldier from before stood, barking orders. They continue walking towards the weapons bay. Stopping in front of a locker, they type in a code, and it opens revealing a sheathed katana inside. Grabbing it with their left hand, they strap it onto their back, and holster a few pistols; one under their left shoulder, and one on their right thigh. Closing the locker, they walked back out onto the hangar. When they walk in, almost every soldier stops to stare at them. The small soldier ignores the stares as they come and stand beside the taller soldier. 

He is middle-aged; looking to be about in his very late 40’s. His eyes were covered with very intricate glasses, while messy, dark tan hair was tied back into a short ponytail. He wore white pants, with a long-sleeved, coat like jacket. Gold colored, metal strips go across the chest of the jacket, and the coattail reached down to his ankles; wrapping all around like a cloak. 

“Are we ready, Elfheim?” the small soldier inquires.

“Nilfheim,” he replies with a small glare, “our operatives are preparing the final necessities now.”

A soldier runs up to Nilfheim, salutes, tells him something, then leaves. Niflheim turns to the small soldier standing next to him. 

“The ship is ready, we are moving.”

“Finally. Took them long enough. They should be faster at this.” They say walking into the ship. 

The flight is silent, except for the sound of the radios filling with the voices of the other soldiers. The two look out into the distance, across the water, as the small warehouse facility comes into view. The small soldier steps forward, pressing a button transmitting to the rest of the soldiers. 

“All men, get into position, and wait for my signal. Do not move until then.”

The two move back to the back of the ship, waiting. The small soldier opened up a data pad, showing security camera footage. 

“There are four outside, four inside the main warehouse, and two in the equipment area.”

“This is highly troublesome. They seem to know what they’re doing.”

“I highly doubt that. Look at their armor. That’s simulation trooper armor.” they say handing Nilfheim the datapad. “Simulation troopers don’t fight in real battles, and when they do it’s only when a freelancer comes around.”

“Take a look at the ones inside. Two of them don’t look like the others. One of them is the spy that was seen a week ago. They certainly seem to know what they’re doing.”

The small soldier takes back the data pad, glancing at the screen one last time, before closing it. 

“I’ll take the groups outside and inside the main warehouse. You handle the two down in the equipment area.”

The ship began to descend, nearing the island. 

“Are you sure you’ll be able to handle them?”

The door slowly opened; the ship hovering about 20 feet off the ground. The small soldier smirked at him, and said before their face returned to a stern gaze, “What you should be asking is if they can handle me.” They jump out of the ship.

 

Carolina sidesteps against a large crate, pistol drawn. Church, Washington, and Tucker follow behind. 

“Alright, the control room is on the other side of this warehouse. Church I’ll need you to go inside the system, and take out any automated defense systems.”

“Someone’s gonna have to guard my body while I do it, because I am not losing another one of these things. It’s a miracle Caboose hasn’t destroyed this one.”

“We won’t let anything happen to your body,” Carolina sighs.

“Bow Chicka Bow Wow,” Tucker whispers, before Washington elbows him with his gun.

“Wash, you and Tucker flank right. Church and I will go left. Mark?”

“Sync.”

Washington and Tucker run right, taking cover behind different crates and machines, before stopping behind one on the other side of the room. The static of the radio crackles, before Carolina’s voice comes through. 

“Epsilon is getting ready to go in the system. Keep watch.”

“Already on it.”

“Hey, Wash, I’ve got a question…..” Tucker asks with a bit of nervousness on his voice.

“Tucker, if it doesn’t pertain to the mission, then I don’t want to hear it.” Washington nonchalantly says without averting his gaze. 

“I’m a hundred percent sure it’s important to the mission.”

 

Church crouches beside Carolina, “Alright, I’m going in.”

 

Outside, Sarge stood behind railing, shotgun raised watching the ground. Grif lazily sits against against the other railing. 

“How much longer is this gonna take? And I don’t understand how calm you are, Sarge. I mean, the blues went into a warehouse, unfamiliar to us, and asked us to just wait out here. And you’re not paranoid about that at all.”

“I no doubt, suspect the blues are up to something, but I always have a plan in tow.”

“Oh, and what would that be?” Grif asks with a hint a sarcasm.

“If they use some fancy new weapon against us, I’ll have you right here to use as a meat shield; wasting all of their ammo!”

“Isn’t that you’re plan for everything?”

“Hasn’t steered me wrong yet, numbnuts. And you’re still in perfect meat-shield condition.”

“Ugh, I don’t think i’ll be able to take much more of this,” he says holding his head, “I’m stuck out here, only being able to listen to your plans of killing me somehow, or Donut and Caboose’s stories.” 

“Grif, if you want to let your frustrations out, my ears are open.” Donut says from where he stood beside Caboose.

“I wish Simmons were here, at least this would be less painful than it already is.”

“Look alive, men! We’ve got movement!” Sarge states.

Grif, Donut, and Caboose all gather next to Sarge, guns ready. Looking through the scope, Grif could see a person walking on the ground, towards them. When he looks closer, he can see they have a few weapons.

“Come on, men. We’ll go around, and set up an ambush.” Sarge states, lifting his shotgun and backing away from the railing.

 

Underground, in the equipment bay, Simmons nervously treads through; past machine after machine. Lopez follows making statements about all the things they pass, but Simmons can’t really tell. He examines each machine and piece of equipment closely, all the data being stored in his cyborg half. But, he’s having trouble concentrating with the pain in his leg. He’d survived jumping from the plane, but his robotic leg had taken a bit of damage. He grimaces with each step, trying to ignore. He’ll just power through this and fix it when they get back, he thinks to himself. He stops in the middle of the room, looking closely at something covered by a sheet. Strapping his gun onto his back, he pulls the sheet off; revealing a bigger machine, that looked slightly damaged. It has a huge monitor and keypad with many different sized keys, buttons, and switches. On the sides, different tools stick like robotic endoskeleton arms. On the sides of the monitor, there was what looks like to be a modified assault rifle. Simmons furrows his brow. Inspecting with his robotic eye, he sees that they look more like assault rifles mixed with a medic’s gun; like Doc’s.

“This looks like something that belongs in a sci-fi horror film,” Simmons mutters to himself. “Hmmm….can’t seem to figure out what figure out what it is….Lopez do you have any ideas?” Simmons says looking behind him. There’s no answer.

“Lopez?”

He raises his gun as he hears a clatter and footsteps. Reaching up he, he turns on his radio. He should call Sarge, something is definitely wrong right now.

 

“Tucker, what could the problem possibly be?” Washington asks trying not to raise his voice.

 

“Uh, Carolina.”

“What?”

“We may have a slight problem.”

“What do you mean?” She asks with a hint of anger.

“Well…..” he trails off.

 

Simmons keeps pressing the radio button, trying to call Sarge. There’s no answer, only static. He’s about to give up, when noises fill the speaker. He winces back from the loudness.

“Sarge?” he asks worryingly. Still no answer. But, he can hear the others and gunshots. “Sarge, are you alright?What’s going on?” he says panicking. He hears a footstep close behind him.

 

“All of the systems are offline.” Church states appearing back in his body.

“What the hell does that mean?” Carolina spats.

 

“Wash, haven’t you noticed it’s strange that we haven’t seen anyone since we got here?”

Washington lowers his gun, his eyes widening under his helmet, “Oh no….”he breathes out.

 

Simmons turns, hoping to see Lopez, but is met with a knee in his gut. He falls back, trying to catch his breathe. He looks up, seeing who his attacker is. He can barely see them, in the now flickering lights. The world seemed to be moving in slow motion. As the lights flickered, they came closer. It was too late for Simmons to move, as he’s punched straight in the visor. He falls to the ground, trying to get ahold of his senses. He scrambles to his feet, looking around frantically to find his gun. He sees it; behind his attacker. There’s no way he’d be able to get to it. He remembers the pistol on the side of his armor. Quickly, he grabs it, and aims as fast as he can. His attacker, Nilfheim, runs at him as the gun is aimed. Frantically, Simmons shoots. Just a millisecond before the bullet left the barrel, Nilfheim pushes his arm up and brings it back down again; hitting down on his wrist, making Simmons drop the gun. Before he can react, Nilfheim, kicks him straight in his chest; sending him flying backwards. Simmons stands up wobbling. He looks to his right and sees a crate with rocket launchers. A weapon he recognized and was familiar with. Running over, he picks one out, and quickly loads it. Nilfheim was getting closer to Simmons with every step. He suddenly had the realization, that he was being toyed with. This guy was taking it easy on him…..for now. There was no way he could miss at this range, Simmons thinks to himself. It’s a guaranteed shot; he’s at point blank range in front of a rocket launcher. Aiming straight-forward, he fires. 

It didn’t seem possible to him. No human could react that fast and skilled to a rocket at that distance. The rocket barrels forward, straight towards Nilfheim. Quicker than all his senses could follow, Nilfheim kicks up a small box and kicks it straight into the rocket. The blast sends Simmons backwards into the machine he’d been studying before. It’s dented from where he’d been knocked into. He shakes his head trying to clear it. He lifts his head, seeing Nilfheim still standing. 

“What is this guy? Superhuman?” Simmons asks himself in his head. His thoughts are cut short, when he sees the pistol in Nilfheim’s hand. Panicking, Simmons moves his head right, just avoiding a bullet. He dives forward, missing three more. 

Nilfheim aims for Simmons head on the ground, suddenly a voice comes into his earpiece.

“Niflheim, we’re leaving. Get the ships ready, I have a few more loose ends to take care of.”

“Understood.” He turns on his heel, leaving quickly; giving not a second glance to the maroon soldier or the dismantled robot. 

It takes a moment for Simmons to realize he isn’t dead. He looks up and sees the room now empty. Confused, he slowly stands up. He can feel a few bruises already forming, and now his robotic arm was hurting as well. 

“What is going on?” He asks out loud. The machine whirs and sparks fly off it, from all the damage. He can hear its gears and parts clinking. He turns around to really see how bad it is. Just as he turns, one more spark flies off before it explodes. 

 

Outside, Sarge, Donut, Caboose, and Grif wait for the others in front of the pelican. They watch as Tucker and Washington run out of the warehouse; Tucker’s arm slung around Washington, carrying him. They’re shortly followed by Church and Carolina. 

“What the hell is going on?!” Grif practically shouts.

“It was a trap,” Washington exhales as he puts Tucker down at the base of the ship.

“Get the fuck off me, I’m fine.” Tucker says waving Washington off. 

“We’ll take a look at that later,” Church says, “ Right now we have to get out of here.”

“Hold on a second,” Donut pipes in from behind Sarge, “ Where’s Simmons?”

“Shit! You’ve got to be kidding me right now!” Church yells, hand going to his radio. “Hey red, if you don’t get out here now, we’re leaving your ass here!” There’s only a crackle of static. Church looks to the others. “Any luck?”

Everybody shakes their heads. “Can’t reach Lopez either.” Sarge includes. “What in san hell could have happened?”

“We’ve gotta go find them,” Donut says his voice shaking a little. 

“But we don’t have time to.” Carolina interjects. 

“Carolina’s right,” Church says beside her, “ We’re majorly outnumbered and fairly outmatched, I can say. Not to mention that they've planted explosives."

“We can’t just leave him!” Grif exclaims.

“Of all the times for one of my men to be in this situation, and it wasn’t Grif. The sun definitely doesn’t shine on me today. “ Sarge sighs.

“We know where he went, and we haven’t even been here that long. I, for one, think we have enough time to find him.” Grif says. 

“Yeah, but we don’t know if another one of those maniacs are there. You guys completely got your asses kicked.” Church says

“We don’t have time for this argument!” Carolina says raising her voice slightly. 

“Well, i’m going to find him, and save us the time for this argument.” Grif says, turning and running towards the equipment bay.

“No! Goddammit!” Church curses. 

“Aw, let him go find his boyfriend. God knows those two can’t be separated.” Tucker calls from inside the pelican.

Washington steps up beside Church, “We can make some final preps on the pelican while he goes. We’ve gotta take a look at Tucker as well.”

“I said I’m fine, you dick!” Tucker yells.

Church sighs, “Ugh….fine.”

Grif runs toward the equipment bay, turning on his radio. “Simmons! Where are you, kissass?! Simmons!”

 

In the equipment bay, Grif’s voice crackled through the radio. The helmet lay on its own. A few feet beside it, Simmons slowly began to get up. The explosion had knocked him on his back and he’d landed face down. He groans in pain. But then he realizes something is wrong. There actually isn’t any real pain; in his leg or arm. They actually feel strange. He looks down at his left hand, and another realization hits him. His sight is completely normal. Half of his sight should be computerized. Carefully, he pulls off his glove, and sees something he can’t believe; his hand is complete flesh. His breathing becomes faster and his eyes widen with the revelation. He slightly shakes his head in disbelief. Something falls from the side of his face, it’s his….hair? 

“What the-?” he starts to say, but he stops short as it comes out at a higher pitch. The machine is now mangled and the monitor if cracked. Slowly and shakily, Simmons looks at his reflection. What he sees, isn’t him. It’s a…..girl? His breathe is shaky, and his heart beats faster. He begins to hyperventilate a little, before he let’s out a high pitched scream; resounding throughout the walls.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long wait, but chapter 2 is finally here. Been busy with school and had writer's block a few times, but I finally got it done. Chapter 3 is already in the works, and should come out faster than this chapter now that I have a better feel for writing the characters (in terms of dialogue and such). And towards the end of the chapter it switches around with the characters a lot on purpose. Everything that happens in between the start of the "trap" and end will be explained in the next chapter. I really wanted to leave suspense here, so I wrote it the way it is. That is also the reason why one character's identity hasn't been revealed yet. I promise, the next chapter is going to be awesome. :)
> 
> So...did it surprise you what happened to Simmons? :)


	3. Secret Identity

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Now that Simmons is a girl, what is he going to do?

~earlier~

    “Come on men, we’ll go around and set up an ambush.” Sarge states lifting his shotgun and backing away from the railing. The four crouch behind large crates, waiting. The motion trackers on Grif’s HUD show the person getting closer. He looks to Sarge, who nods to him and Donut. They ready their guns, while Sarge backs up, moving behind the person. Carefully watching the motion trackers, Grif waits until they’re right about to pass them. Right before they pass in front of the crate, Grif and Donut run out in front of them; guns loaded and pointed straight at them. No later than them, Sarge appears behind, aiming his shotgun at the back of their head. Caboose is beside Sarge.

    “Hold it right there, bub.” Sarge growls out, sternly.

    “Uh, Sarge……” Grif says quietly.

    It throws him off for a second. He almost expected to find some scary-looking guy in armor. But, instead he finds himself looking at a….girl? She’s a little short, but the look on her face could kill. Bored, yet, piercing blue-grey eyes stood out beneath blonde hair. It was short, but longer in the front;bangs swept towards the left just barely above her eyes. She isn’t even wearing any kind of armor. Her outfit is mainly colored a dark purplish black. It consists of a long-sleeved turtleneck shirt, with a shawl of the same color over top of it;covering her shoulders and the top part of her chest. The skirt is pleated, and reaches just above her knees; which are covered by leggings. Dark brown boots come up to just below her knees.

She doesn’t look very threatening, but Grif’s gut tells him otherwise. In his experience, he’s learned: never underestimate girls in this army. He keeps his gun cocked and aimed. There’s a few moment of silence before she talks.

“Oo, looks like you got me.” She says unamused.

“No small-talk, little lady. Drop your weapons and don’t move.”

“Well, which is it? Drop my weapons or don’t move?” She says, eyes still not moving from their gaze.

“You know what I mean. Now do it.” Sarge firms, taking a step closer.

“I’d do what he says, we have you surrounded and outnumbered. And honestly, I really don’t want to mess up that very nice outfit of yours.” Donut pipes in.

“Thanks for the compliment, but I don’t I think I will.”She says glancing at Donut. “Instead, i’ll first give you a chance to leave now.”

Grif and the others exchange puzzled looks.

She continues, “I’m giving you a chance to leave now, while you still can. We won’t speak of this again, and you will be forgiven by my boss. Your choice…..and I highly suggest you take it.” She says with authority.

“Not likely.” Sarge says, clicking his shotgun in response.

“Alright then.” She mutters out.

Quicker than lightning, she turns right and elbows the shotgun. The shot goes off past her head. Completely the turn, she punches Sarge in the face and turns again so that she’s behind him. Using her right foot, she stomps down behind his knee; causing him to stumble. Turning right again, she kicks him in the back straight into Donut. They both fall to the ground, leaving Grif bewildered. Trying to be fast, he aims again, and fires as she runs toward him. She leans forward and rolls, avoiding the bullets. She lunges forward, punching Grif in the abdomen. Using her left hand, she knocks the gun from his hand.  Sarge had gotten back up and is right behind her, raising his shotgun. With a quick glance, seeing Sarge, she backflips; her feet hitting Grif in the ascend and Sarge in the descent.  Donut goes in for a punch, but she easily steps out of the way. Grabbing his arm, she kicks his feet out from under him; throwing him over her.  She steps back, as Grif stands back up.  

“Hey, Caboose, stop standing around and help us!”

Upon the statement, she looks shocked and turns to see the dark, blue armored soldier standing only a few feet away.  As if she hadn’t even noticed he was there before.  Seeing a chance, Grif throws himself on top of her.  She turns trying to stop him. They collide, falling to the ground; the girl on her back as Grif tries to hold her down.

“I got her! Not so tough now are y-”

As the words were leaving his mouth, she brings up the bottom of her boot, kicking Grif in the crotch. He immediately falls to the side in pain. He cries out while falling, “Why does every girl we fight have to go for my balls? Why?!”

She somersaults backwards, regaining her stance. Sarge and Donut were standing again as well.  Running, she grabs Donut’s arm and swings him into Sarge as he tried to fire his shotgun.  She makes a T with her body as she kicks them both to the ground.  Grif manages to stagger to his feet. He grabs a piece of metal from the ground, and runs up behind her, swinging the metal towards her head.  She turns and leans back, the metal going over her.  She grabs the sheathed katana from her back and comes back up, swinging it into Grif’s helmet.  She blocks the metal on the left side of her head, and turns right, jutting the end of the sheath into his stomach.  He’s on his knees, as she spins left, spinning the sheathed katana and bringing down on the back of his neck; knocking him to the ground completely.

Turning back to Donut and Sarge, she throws the sheathed katana at them. Sarge ducks to the side, but it hits Donut square in the helmet. As it hits, she runs and jumps using both feet to knock him down.  When she lands, she crouches and spins, knocking Sarge’s feet out from under him.  Caboose runs forward, yelling loudly with his gun.  She cartwheels, picking up the sheathed katana with her left hand. She easily brings it up from the right and disarms him.  Continuing the turn, she kicks him in the face, causing him to fall halfway down. She grabs him by the chestpiece, her fist raised.  

Caboose lets out a yell as he’s grabbed, “Oh my god!” But, she doesn’t bring it down.  She holds her fist there, staring at Caboose. She looks upset and shocked at the same time.  Her eyes shake a bit; like she trying to see through the visor.  Her stare is broken as she hears the click of Sarge’s shotgun.  She looks at him and regains her stern demeanor and grips the chestpiece hard, as she throws Caboose toward Sarge.  She uses that to run towards the edge of the dock, jumping over a shot that hit the ground in front of her.

Sarge, Donut, Caboose, and Grif are all standing again, barely. She is standing there, the sheathed katana back on her back. They all have their guns again; aimed at her.  

“I gave you a chance to give up and leave. Since, you won’t take it, the consequences won’t be good.” She takes the pistol out from around her right thigh. “I don’t have time for this anymore, i’ll let you deal with this instead.” She raises the pistol. The four tense up; Sarge grips his shotgun tighter as she does.  The pistol continues upward till it’s pointed at the sky. She pulls the trigger and a shot rings out. Immediately, soldiers are on both sides of her, guns at the ready and firing.  Sarge, Donut, Grif, and Caboose all take cover as she holsters the pistol and walks off toward the warehouse.  Grif, presses his radio.

“Hey, blue! We’ve got trouble out here, and one headed your way!” He ducks at another shot. Unpressing the radio, he grips his gun and starts firing back.

On the other end, Church is back in his body with Carolina.

“I think I just figured out why all the systems are offline.” he states

“Wanna fill me in?!”

“I’m getting to it. It turns out, this was pretty much a trap!” He says irritated. “We need to get back to the others.”

Washington gets up quickly, pulling Tucker by the arm. “Come on, we gotta get out of here.”

Tucker pulls away. “Why?”

“Because, like you said. We haven’t seen anybody at all. Obviously, that’s a setup for a trap. I’m not taking any chances.”

“Come on, Wash. Don’t be such a sissy.  Since when are you one to run from a fight?”

“I’m being cautious for your safety.” He grabs Tucker’s arm again. “Now come on. We need to regroup with the others.”

“I say, we stay here.  Nothing’s happened to us yet. If they intended for this to be a trap, then why hasn’t anyone tried to get the jump on us yet? If we wait, we’ll get the jump on them.”

Washington let’s go of Tucker’s arm, sighing. “We still need to be careful.”

“Yeah, yeah. I know. You tell us that every five minutes.”

Washington shakes his head a little.  He turns his head at the sound of footsteps.  He stands in front of Tucker, raising his gun, as they get closer.  Out of the shadows of the room, Iris steps out, sheathed katana in her left hand.  She tries to take another step, but Washington clicks his gun in response, stopping her.  She looks up at both, studying them.

“Who are you?” Washington asks with authority.

She puts a hand on her hip and rolls her eyes, “So many people asking today.  When would you like an answer? Now or when your face is on the ground?”

Tucker growls and tries to step forward, but Washington stands in his way.

“You’ll answer us now.”

“Fine.” She stands up straight again. “It’s Iris.”

Tucker spoke up from behind Washington, “So, what are you doing here, Iris?”

“Doing my job. Getting rid of idiots like you.” She raises her hand, looking at her nails like a preppy high school girl. “Right now i’m four for ten.” She looks at Tucker and Washington, finding the reaction she intended.

“What’s that mean?” Tucker asks gritting his teeth. Washington steps in front of him again, glancing back; obviously giving a stern glare saying “calm down” from behind his helmet.

        She turns on an earpiece. The sounds of gunshots and yells echo throughout the warehouse. Tucker’s hand moves toward his sword. Washington senses this, and looks at him sideways again.

        “Tucker, don’t.” He says calmly, but stern at the same time.

        “Weren’t much of a challenge. Shouldn’t expect much here either.” She says turning off the earpiece.  

        “Well you haven’t met me yet. Let’s get acquainted.” Tucker says, pushing past Washington; grabbing his sword.

“Tucker, wait!” Washington calls. He mutters under his breathe, following him, “Dammit…”

Iris walks towards them. It becomes a slight run as the gap closes between them.  

Tucker swings down from the right, on her left and Washington throws a punch from the left, on her right.  Iris, in between them, hits Tucker’s arm, blocking the swing and catching Washington’s fist in her other hand. The block causes Tucker to stumble back a little as she turns right and hits Washington with the sheathed katana,  then kneeing him in the gut. Immediately, she kicks back straight into Tucker’s abdomen.  Washington tries to throw a punch at her from behind.  Iris ducks out of the way, turns her grip on the katana to the handle, and swings left, hitting Washington in his helmet.  She spins and kicks Washington away.  Tucker goes in for another swing with his sword. She moves to the side, dodging it.  Spinning into Tucker, she elbows him in his visor with her left arm. Then immediately, punching him in the gut with her right hand. Tucker stumbles again; he tries to stab her, but she grabs his arm and elbows down into his arm with her left arm.  His arm bends and jolts causing him to drop his sword. He tries to grab her with his right hand. Iris drops his left arm, deflecting his hand away with her right wrist, and hitting him straight across his face with the katana.  She side-kicks him in the ribs; Tucker falls back on the ground.

Washington runs at her. He attempts to punch her, but she backflips out of the way to the side.  Iris blocks every one of Washington’s hits, while Washington can’t block or avoid a single one of hers. When he throws a punch, she blocks and comes back with one herself.  Acting quickly, Washington pulls out his knife and swings it toward her face. It just barely misses as she leans back; leaning back all the way she flips backwards. Washington takes the offense, trying to use the old knife skills Connie had taught him. All Iris does is block each hit. Washington thinks he could be gaining the upper hand. Until out of nowhere, Iris pulls the katana out of the sheath; swinging it up and across, knocking the knife from Washington’s hand. He’s bewildered for a second as Iris kicks him straight back.  

    She stands there for a second, holding her stance. She blinks and slightly glances left at Tucker behind her, running at her with his sword. Lowering to the ground, she turns, leg outstretched, tripping Tucker and sending him straight into Washington.

    Washington grabs his gun from his back and loads it quickly. He fires as quickly as he can. Iris runs , just ahead of the bullets, to a pulley cable. She cuts the bottom quickly, and it sends her straight up into the upper storage area. Tucker brings out his gun too, and fires as well.. She ducks behind an extra scaffolding with large crates on it. The bullets ricochet off the frames.  Iris glances at the frames, noticing how they damaged the framing, making it have the potential to fall over. She unsheathes the katana again, and stabs it into the holes from the bullets.  She drags it across, right through the rest of the frame. She turns her grip on the katana, and steps backward, jabbing it through the holes of the other frame and dragging across through the metal. Facing the crates, with two slashes, she cuts the ropes holding the crates on the scaffolding.

    She sheaths the katana and takes a few steps back. Running forward, she kicks the crates with all her strength. It slowly begins to lean forward, and soon the scaffolding and crates is falling; right towards Tucker and Washington.

    “You have got to be fucking kidding me!” Tucker yells

    “Tucker, watch out!” Washington yells at him. Tucker looks to see one of the crates falling right towards him. Washington tackles Tucker out of the way just in time.  

    Iris stands balanced on the falling scaffolding, she takes out the pistol from her left shoulder. Closing one eye, she aims at Tucker. Tucker stands up, unbeknownst to it. She fires one bullet. It hits the back of Tucker’s helmet, and ricochets off.

    “Holy shit!” Tucker screams grabbing the back of his head.

    “Look out!” Washington says.

    Iris jumps off the scaffolding before it hits the ground, and over Tucker and Washington.She lands and lunges right in-between them. It’s a blur of fists as Iris fights off both of them. She blocks every one of their hits and immediately counters. It seems she is one step ahead of them with each attack.  

    She punches Tucker back, and immediately turns, roundhouse kicking Washington back. He falls back and rolls. Tucker is fed up with her at this point.

    He pulls out his sword again. “Okay that’s it.” He swings down. She steps to the side, swiftly hitting him with the sheathed katana. He swings across, she ducks and rolls sideways underneath it; landing two more hits with the katana. Tucker falls back on the ground. He immediately springs back up and slashes across left.  

    With the utmost precision, she backflips right underneath the slash, and land two more hits to Tucker’s chest and head. He stumbles back onto one knee.  Washington comes up behind her. She doesn’t see him in time to react, and he is able to knock the katana out of her hand. He grabs her wrist, twisting it behind her back. Looking irritated, she leans forward, flipping Washington over her onto the ground. Tucker tries to hit her, but she easily overpowers him. She lands a hard roundhouse kick on Tucker’s head that knocks his helmet clean off.

Tucker’s dazed, struggling to get up. Iris runs, picking up the katana, straight at him. He sees her, and tries his best to get away, but it’s too late. She turns, unsheathing the katana, slashing right across Tucker’s side.

Washington looks up seeing it happen to his horror. Carolina and Church arrive at the same moment.

Washington yells, “Tucker!”

“Shit!” Church curses.

Tucker falls to the ground, holding his side. Iris stands behind him, her back to him, and sheaths the katana. Church can feel omega itching at the back of his “mind”. He shakes him off. Iris turns to face Carolina and Church.  She looks them both over, but her eyes linger on Carolina. Her expression is of shock and questioning.

“Carolina...what do you think?” Church asks.  As Church said her name, Iris’s cool demeanor is suddenly replaced with absolute rage.

She turns on her earpiece, “Niflheim, we’re leaving. Get the ships ready, I have a few more loose ends to take care of.” She begins to walk toward them, hand on the sword hilt, ready to unsheathe it.

“Take Wash and Tucker, meet up with the others, and get back to the ship.” Carolina firmly states.

“You don’t want me to stay and help you?”

“No, now go, Church. I’ll be coming out behind you, don’t worry.” She takes a fighting stance, as Iris gets closer. Church runs up to Washington, who is looking over Tucker.  

“Come on, we’re heading back to the ship.” Church says quickly and firmly.

“What about Carolina?” Washington asks, as he helps Tucker to his feet.

“She’ll be right behind us, now let’s go.”

    Iris immediately unsheathes the katana and swings it down toward Carolina’s head. Carolina blocks it with her arm.  Iris swings the sheath up, which is blocked by Carolina’s other arm.  Iris turns and kicks with her left foot. Carolina steps back avoiding it.  They each try to take the offensive and upper-hand, but seem to be equally-matched. They block each other’s hits and avoid each other’s attacks. Iris manages to land a kick on Carolina’s back.  

    With a huff of frustration, Carolina counters back with an even faster, harder kick to Iris’s face.  She falls to the ground, rolling so she stops on one knee. A small trickle of blood forms on her bottom lip. She wipes it off, glaring.

    The earpiece crackles to life, Nilfheim’s voice sounding through.

    “Iris, return to the ship. Our men have set the detonators.”

    She grits her teeth. “Tch…..on my way..” The katana lies on the ground a few feet from her. Snatching it up, she makes her escape, just as Carolina is running toward her. Carolina stops, perplexed, watching her run and disappearing among the contents of the warehouse.  She lingers for a second, before heading the other way; out to the pelican with the others.

   

                        ~present~

        He only screams for a few seconds. His whole body shakes terribly. Sweat trickles down the side of his face; that’s pale as snow. He slowly tries to stand up, stumbling slightly. The world is spinning and he feels a bit lightheaded. What is going on? Simmons looks at his reflection in the cracked monitor again.

    _“This can’t be real,”_ he thinks to himself. _“I’ve got to be in a comatic dream, or possibly dead. I-I’ve got to be dreaming, or the explosion threw my sight out wack and i’m_ _hallucinating.”_

    He squeezes his eyes shut and opens them again. Two green eyes. Closes his eyes again. Two green eyes; staring back. He reaches up and touches his face, the right side, where his robotic eye should be.

    “This cannot be real….” Simmons quietly says stepping back. “I’m a girl….” he says; voice cracking. He holds his head in his hands, looking down at the floor. His eyes are wide, and his breathing is short and fast. He can feel a panic attack slowly beginning. But, he can’t calm himself down.

    “Simmons!”

    His head twitches and he slowly turns around barely seeing Grif running toward him. Grif stops in front of him, hands on his knees breathing heard.

    “What-huff-the-huff-fuck?” Grif says between breaths, panting. “What are you doing Simmons? We gotta get out of here and-” he looks up, “-Simmons?”

    Simmons is still panicking, not even hearing what Grif said.

    “Simmons is that you?”

    He still doesn’t respond. Grif takes slow careful steps toward him/her. Reaching out slowly, he calmly says, “Simmons?”

    Simmons head is still in his hands, eyes wide, darting around at the floor. Grif reaches forward and grabs Simmons by the shoulders shaking him slightly.

    “Simmons!”

    He looks up startled; his hands slowly releasing his head and back to his sides.

    “Simmons, what the fuck is going on?! Why are you-this?!” Grif screeches.

    “I don’t know! I got snuck up on by some guy and then that machine exploded, and the next thing I know, I’m this!” Simmons yells quickly, gesturing all around.

    “So….you’re a girl now?”

    “I guess, I don’t know.” He stops realizing, again, how high his voice was.

    “Well, there’s one way to test.” Grif says stepping forward.

    “What?”

    Grif reaches forward and grabs Simmons chestpiece.  Upon the touch, Simmons squeaks and jumps back, slapping Grif’s hand away, covering his chest.

    “What are you doing?!”

    “Well there’s only one other way to find out. And personally, I don’t think you want to go that route.” Grif says crossing his arms. The blush on Simmons new face grew redder at the thought.

    “Jesus….Forget about checking, let’s just go.”  

    “But-But how are we gonna explain this to everyone else!?” Simmons panickly says.

    “Um…...uh…..” Grif looks around as if  to find a solution in the air around him.  He spots Simmons helmet on the ground to his left. “Oh,” he says with a matter-of-fact tone. Walking over, he picks up the helmet. Simmons watches him, confused. He reapproaches him with the helmet, and holds it out to him.

    “Here, put this on.”

    “What is my helmet gonna do?”

    “So no one can see your face, dumbass.  We can’t see our faces through them, so why not?” He holds the helmet out to him once more.

    “But…..my voice.”

    “Oh, that…..hmmm,” Grif scratches his head, thinking, “Okay, put on the helmet, and just don’t say anything.”

    “There’s no way that’s gonna work! Why don’t we just tell Carolina.”

    “Not likely, she’s gonna get pissed at us. And if you haven’t noticed, the machine that did this to you,” Grif nods at the machine behind Simmons, “is completely fucked.”

    Suddenly, an explosion sounds from outside, shaking the whole place. Simmons and Grif stumble trying to keep from falling over.

    “And that’s our cue to get the fuck out of here.” He shoves the helmet into Simmons hands. “Put it on, and follow my lead. Got it?”

    “There is no way this is going to work.” Simmons mutters slipping the helmet back on.

    “Just let me handle it. When have I let you down Simmons?” Grif says, starting to jog.

    “Plenty of times!” Simmons yells in response, following him.

    Church stood outside the Pelican looking through the scope of his sniper rifle. Suddenly, Grif and Simmons’ armor come into view.  Church turns into the pelican.

    “I see them! Start the ship, now!”  The engines roar to life, as more explosives start to go off.  Church runs into the pelican behind Grif and Simmons, as the pelican lifts off the ground and the door closes.  The two stand in the middle, panting hard.

    “Are you guys okay?” Donut asks.

    Grif stand up straight, finally catching his breath. “Yeah, we’re fine.”

    “Simmons?” Donut looks toward him.

    Simmons jolts.  He can’t say anything. If he does, they’ll all know. His body starts to shake again. If he doesn’t say anything, they’ll get more suspicious. They might try to take off his helmet. It could blow everything.  He feels like he might throw up.  Before he opens his mouth, Grif speaks up.

    “He’s fine. Got into a tussle with some weirdo, and is a little shaken up; like the wimp he is.” Grif mutters the last part. “Probably doesn’t want to talk about it.”

    All helmets look toward Simmons behind Grif. Simmons shies away, looking at the ground.

    “Come on, son. We’ve taken a couple beatings before. How bad could it have been?”

    “Well, they did dismantle Lopez.” Grif points out. “He was in little pieces all over the floor.”

    “Those fiends!” Sarge yells raising his shotgun.  Grif shakes his head, and sits in a seat, followed by Simmons next to him.  Carolina speaks up from where she stands.

    “We’ll…...have a meeting when we get back, to discuss what happened.” She takes a seat next to Church. Simmons looks up. He’s immediately drawn to look at Tucker.

    His helmet is off, resting in his arm as he leans on the other.  He can see a bandage on his face. The white excruciatingly contrasting against his dark skin.  There’s a scowl on his face. _I guess they got beat up like me_ , Simmons thinks to himself.  That must have been why nobody answered him before on the radio.  He looks down again, trying to think of what he’s going to about the whole girl thing.  They’d gotten here, but what were they going to do when they got to base? There’s no way they’d be able to hide it from the rest of the team then.

   

    They arrive at Valhalla, and the teams go their separate ways. All of them are exhausted from the day’s events.  Eager to avoid confrontation, Simmons hurries inside and down to his room.  He opens the door and rushes inside, falling back against the door as he closed it.  He makes sure to lock it, before moving over and standing in front of the mirror. With shaky hands, he slowly pulls off his helmet.  

The short hair he now adorns, falls out and lays just below his jaw line; or what was now his jaw line. His hair is the same color. Bangs hang straight down and stop just at his eyebrows. His face is softer and a little more oval shaped. And his eyes…..the two green eyes that stare back at his new face in the mirror. He touches the right side of his face, it’s complete skin. There’s no robot parts, no circuits, no wires. Nothing. It’s his skin, or is it?  

A knock on the door makes him jump. He immediately puts the helmet back on and walks over to the door.  He reluctantly reaches for the handle. More knocking.

“Simmons it’s me. Open the damn door.” Grif’s voice sounds from the other side.

Simmons opens the door, hurrying Grif inside and shutting it once again.

“So,what are we going to do now?” Simmons asks.

“Don’t worry, I’ve got a plan.” Grif says, lounging on Simmons bed.

“I can’t wait to hear this.” Simmons says sarcastically, crossing his arms.

“Hey, I thought about this the whole way back. I would like to believe i’ve come up with a pretty good plan.” Grif retorts.

Simmons rolls his eyes, “Since when have you had good ideas?”

“Since I decided to help you with your little predicament.” Grif points out. “You gotta trust me here. I’m sure i’ve got something that can work.”

“And what would that be?” Simmons raises an eyebrow.

“First off, you can’t come out of your room for the rest of the night.”

“What?! You cannot be serious! That’s your plan?!” Simmons screeches.

Grif holds up his arms. “I’m not done yet, smartass.”

Simmons settles back down, crossing his arms again.

Grif continues. “Don’t come out of your room for the rest of the night, and meet me at the caves early in the morning. Before anybody else is up.  I’ll tell you the rest there.” Grif bounces up off Simmons bed. “What?”

Simmons was giving him an unamused, “are you kidding me” glare. “Why can’t you tell me the rest right here?”

“Precision and timing, Simmons, is essential here. As i’m sure one of your nerd things would say,” He clears his throat, “Patience is the companion of wisdom.”

“What wisdom? This is you we’re talking about.”

“Ah, but Simmons, this is your problem we’re trying to solve. You see, I could have just let everybody find out about this and laugh my ass off.” Grif cooley claims.

“Then why are you helping me?”

“Because, Simmons. I’m doing this huge favor for you. You’re in a spot of owing me big time.” Grif smiles smugly.

    “Ugh, I would deny this help if I could.” He sighed. “Alright. I will meet you at the caves tomorrow. Do not forget, asshole.” Simmons says, pointing at him.

    “Right, right.” Grif says walking to the door. “Just remember, I’m the one in charge of this plan.” He opens the door and glances back to Simmons, “High-time you start kissing my ass, buddy.”

    Simmons’s head jolts up at him, “Hey!” Grif closes the door, leaving Simmons standing alone in his room again.  “I really hate him sometimes.” He mutters.

    The buzzing of the alarm clock rouses Simmons from his sleep. He raises himself up, groggily, and looks at the clock; tired and annoyed. “Why is this thing going off? I don’t need to set it anymo-,” He stops hearing his voice. Everything from the day before comes rushing back to him. “Oh…...right….no more robot parts…..no more automatic wake-up.” He runs his “new” left hand through his hair. It still feels completely strange to him. He actually has flesh and bone again, but he also has a new gender as well.  He looks back at the clock and remembers why he set it in the first place. He has to meet Grif at the caves this morning.

    Hurrying, he puts on his armor. _“Good thing it’s a one size fits all armor.”_ He thinks to himself. Taking one last look in the mirror, he puts the helmet on. With the helmet on, he still looks like the real Simmons.  Quietly, he opens the door and peeks out. There’s no sign of anyone, a relief on Simmons’s part. He quickly runs outside and heads for the caves.

    The sun was just barely peeking over the horizon; creating an orange and pink lining against the darker sky above.  The morning chill hangs in the air, creating a sense of peace for Simmons; reminding him of the times he and Grif sat on top of the base looking at the stars. Arriving at the caves, he looks inside, and then facepalms himself. Why didn’t he check to make sure Grif was awake before he came out here?

“Great….” Simmons mutters.

“You bet it is, buddy.” A voice sounds from inside the cave. Simmons turns to see Grif lounging against the wall of the cave, inside, helmet on the ground next to him.

“Holy shit. You’re actually awake. It’s a fucking miracle.” Simmons walks up to him and takes off his own helmet. “How the hell did you manage this?”

“Pretty easy. All I did was sleep out here.”

“You what?”

“I slept out here and figured your loud panicking would wake me up.” Grif shrugs.

Simmons puts his hands on his hips, “What about the bats? Caves are extremely known to have bats in them.”

“Just another reason it would be easy for me to be awake.” He says, his voice shaking a little. “And by the way, you look super sassy there. This plan is going to work out great.” He chuckles.

Simmons glances down at himself. Realizing the meaning of Grif’s remark, he quickly crosses his arms. “Whatever. What is the plan anyway? You made me wait this long.”

Grif heaves himself off the ground. “Well, now that you’re hearing the plan, I can tell you why I made you wait.” Simmons shifts, ready to listen.

“The plan goes like this. You’re a girl, now. So, you’re going to **_have_** to be a girl now. Now let’s see….” Grif begins circling Simmons looking him up and down. Simmons turns trying to follow him.

“What? What do you mean?”

Grif stands back in front of him. This time inspecting his “face”. “Okay, here’s what we do.  Simmons isn’t around anymore. Forget about him.”

“Wha-”

“You are the opposite gender, which means, new identity.  We make you a new name. A new person. Let’s see……” Grif taps his chin in thought. Simmons watches him, worried and anxious. “I got it. Your new name is Símon. Pronounced like Symone, but spelled like Simon. It’s also sounds Spanish, that’ll get you points with Lopez.”

“Why Símon?” Simmons inquires.

“Because, it’s close enough to Simmons. Now to pick a last name…...Got it. Wilson. Your official new name is Símon Wilson.”

“Okay, seriously, why Símon Wilson?”

“We need a name that’s easy not just for me to remember, but for you to remember as well.  Wilson is also the name of the girls the guys dressed up as in the movie _White_ _Chicks_.”

“You’re giving me a name from a movie you saw.” Simmons sighs. “I guess it’ll have to do. But, wait.  What about me? I mean…...what are we going to tell them about…..Simmons?”

“I’ve got that covered. The story goes like this: late last night you got a call from UNSC about being relocated. You had to leave first thing in the morning and Símon is your replacement. Unfortunately, they dropped you off in the wrong spot here at the caves. Luckily, though, I was around them and found you.”

Simmons stares at him in disbelief. “I can’t believe i’m going to say this, but that actually doesn't sound too bad.”

“I know. Not to mention, it could earn me slack off time from Sarge with bringing him a new recruit and all.” Simmons rolls his eyes. Grif hands Simmons his helmet and picks up his own. “Alright, let’s get this plan in motion. Just like last time, follow my lead.” They slip their helmets on and make their way back to Red base. Sarge, Donut, and Lopez are all already outside.  Donut immediately spots them.

“Hey, guys! You are really up early today. Especially you Grif, isn’t it a miracle, Simmons?”

Simmons, looks up at Grif, giving a look from under his helmet that said, _“You said to follow your lead, so go on”._

“Actually Donut, that’s not Simmons.” Grif says.

“What do you mean? Of course it’s Simmons, he’s the only one here with maroon armor.”

“Not anymore.”

Sarge approaches, hearing the conversation. “What are you all rambling about? Simmons, there you are, and you brought Grif too.  It must be a miracle, well maybe it would be more of a miracle if you brought back an unmoving body and-”

Grif cuts him off. “That’s not Simmons.”

“Say what now?”

“That’s. Not. Simmons.” Grif repeats.

“Well then who in the hell is it?” Sarge asks.

“A new recruit, sir.” Grif states. He nods at Simmons. Understanding the gesture, Simmons releases the clasps on the helmet, removing it.  His hair falls back into place; smiling awkwardly at them.

He squeaks out, “Hello, Sa- er, sir.” Man, he was going to have to get used to this.

Donut is the first to speak, “Well hi there. What a pleasure to meet you.”

Sarge studies Simmons; actually Símon. His helmet is close to his “face”. Simmons leans back uncomfortably. “Uh…..”

Sarge pulls back and exclaims, slapping a hand on Simmons’s back. “Ha! Well, welcome to red team little lady!”  A sigh a relief leaves Simmons.  Which is sucked back in immediately when Sarge says, “Where’s Simmons? All members of red team should be present for the arrival of a new recruit.”

Grif speaks up, “Simmons isn’t here.”

“Yes, we can see that, Private obvious.”

“No, Sarge. I mean Simmons literally isn’t here. He left.”

“What?!” Sarge picks up his shotgun and aims it at Grif. “Explain yourself, Private.”

“Simmons got a call from command last night, and was relocated early this morning. They dropped off his replacement, only they dropped her off in the wrong spot. Luckily, I was there to bring her here.”

Sarge lowers his shotgun with a grunt. “They take one of my men and it isn’t Grif. They took my second-in-command. He even left without a goodbye.”

“Don’t worry, Sarge. The relocation may not be permanent, and Simmons could come back soon.” Donut says from behind him.

“I just can’t believe the day has come that he’s gone. Now I have no one to deal with Grif.”

“En realidad , Simmons está de pie justo en frente de usted. Su ADN es el mismo.” Lopez says, now standing by Sarge.

{Actually, Simmons is standing right in front of you. Their DNA is the same.}

“I understand that you’ll miss Simmons the most, Lopez. You two were basically half-brothers.” Donut says.

“No, idiota.”

“Oh look, you fixed Lopez already.” Grif states, somewhat changing the subject.

“Of course he’s fixed already! I always have another robot kit ready for use when needed.”

“Basta pensar : hay otro jefe de mí en un almacén ahora .”

{Just think: there's another head of me in a warehouse now.}

“You’re right, Lopez. We should introduce her to the blues. It is polite.” Donut smiles beneath his helmet.

“O dios mío.”

“What?! What could give you a crazy idea like that, Lopez? Did I not put in a few wires correctly?”

Simmons decides he should maybe say something. “So...uh…..who are the blues….? Maybe I should meet them.”

“Yeah, Sarge. I mean, we kind of have a situation at the moment between us and the blues, and she should probably be in the loop.” Grif adds.

There’s a few moments of silence before Sarge finally decides. With a heavy grunt he says, “Alright….We’ll introduce her to the blues.”

Outside of Blue base, Tucker was already running drills; supervised by Washington. Tucker stops in front of him, leaning forward on his knees, breathing heavily.

“I swear to god man, you are going to kill me before this war does.”

“It’s not that bad. And technically we aren’t in a war anymore. The Great War ended some time ago.”

“Well, we’re still out here, so I count it as there’s a war somewhere that we’re somehow involved in, or we will get involved in.”

“Either way, doing these exercises aren’t going to kill you anytime soon. You lasted longer than yesterday.”

Tucker looks up at him, smirking under his helmet. “Bow Chicka-”

Wash glares down at him. “Don’t.”

Tucker straightens up, shrugging. “Meh, it’s not like you’re one for that kind of thing anyway.”

“I-” Their conversation is interrupted by Sarge yelling from the top of the hill.

“Attention Blue Team, this is the Red team announcing a truce!”

“Don’t you mean proposing?!” Tucker yells back. “What if we don’t want it?!”

Washington rests a hand on Tucker’s shoulder. “Play nice there, Private.” He glances toward Sarge. “Why do want a truce?!”

“The Red team has gained a new asset that we believe we should introduce to you!”

Tucker and Washington glance at each other. They’re  both thinking, is he serious?

“Um…..okay! Are you gonna bring it over here?!”

“You bet your high horse we are!”

Just as the Red team arrived at Blue base, Church, Caboose, and Carolina had all already come outside.

“What the fuck are you all yelling about out here?” Church asks.

“The Reds apparently have something new they want to show us. Probably another gun, or jeep, or-” Tucker is cut off by Sarge shoving an unhelmeted Símon in front of them.

“Meet the newest addition to Red Team, Símon!”

She stands there, awkwardly waving at them. “Uh…..hi….”

Church is the first to respond. “What? You mean to tell me, you got another recruit?”

“Yeah, Simmons was relocated this morning. Símon is his replacement until he gets back.” Donut says.

“But, you don’t really have a Command anymore.” Washington says. “Who would’ve relocated him? And where did she come from anyway?”

“UNSC might have. I mean, they’re really the ones in charge.” Church says.

“Still, seems like a really weird time for a relocation order don’t you think?” Carolina says eyeing Símon. Simmons could feel her viper gaze through the visor into him.

Grif speaks up, “Well, it ** _was_** a last minute relocation. In all honesty, you never know what these people can pull.”

Carolina backs off, resting back behind the group as Washington starts. “First thing is, does she know what’s going on right now?”

“You mean the whole Major warehouse thing?” Grif asks.

“Yes.”

“Don’t worry, we’ll have her up-to-date in no time.” Sarge declares.

“Maybe, we should have one of _**us** _ explain it to her.” Church blatantly says.

Tucker slides up next to Símon with his usual flirting smile. “I can take care of you, baby. Anything you need.”

“Uh…..”Símon says trying to back away.

“My name is Tucker. You’re free to call me up anytime. Don’t let the color team difference stop you.”

“Ugh, no thank you.” Símon says taking a full step to the side.

“She’ll come around.” Tucker says standing back next to Washington.

“Anyway,” Church continues, “Basically we got some psycho doing some very bad things with very bad things. We need to stop him, but we’re having problems with that. These guys got their asses kicked in warehouse we were investigating, but we did get a confirmation that they do have something to hide.”

“Okay, uh, got it.” Símon confirmed.

The rest of the day goes by very slowly for Símon. Getting used to being a girl is particularly difficult. Multiple times he almost forgets he is supposed to be going by Símon, and forgets to respond to Sarge, Donut, and Grif. His hair is constantly in his when his helmet’s off; which makes trying to work kind of hard when he has to keep pushing it back. His body is lighter now, so when he stepped onto the gravity pad, he went flying a lot farther than preferred. His body also doesn’t have the same strength as his old one.  Donut’s playful punch on his arm, his new one in fact, actually sends him stumbling slightly.  

Finally, the day comes to end and Simmons falls onto his bed. _How long am I going to be like this?_ He thinks to himself. _There’s no way I’m gonna last. At least nobody knows._ _They bought our plan…….well, Grif’s plan. I thought I was smart, but he actually fooled everyone._ He turns over, looking at the ceiling. _Now that I think about it, the last time I_ _tried being someone else to trick everyone, it was a complete failure. Everybody saw right through me, even the tank._ He lets out a sigh. Then sits up abruptly. “Hold the phone.” He says out loud to himself. “That asshole didn’t make a plan to how we’re going to fix this. Oh, he is mine tomorrow.”

______________________________________________________________________

    Inside Blue base, Carolina sat at the kitchen table deep in thought. Washington takes a seat across from her. “What’cha thinking about there, boss?”

    “What went wrong in that mission, Wash?” She asks, keeping her eyes on the table.

    “You mean, besides the fact that it was completely a trap.”

    She raises her eyes to him. “Yes, I mean besides it was a trap.”

    “Not much to say, but it seems like they’ve got a strong line-up.  That one girl especially.”

    “The one who goes by Iris?”

    “Yeah, her.  She took down team B easily, judging by how she acted, and gave Tucker and I the same treatment. Definitely has some skill. How did she fair against you?”

    “I wouldn’t say she’s a major threat, but she can no doubt pose as one. But there was something else…..something off about when I faced her.”

    “And what would that be?”

    “It was almost like she knew who I was. When Epsilon said my name, it was like her whole character changed. She almost seemed angry.”

    Washington perks up. "Now that you mention it, before Tucker and I fought her, she acted a bit cocky and sarcastic; like she was playing with us. But with you, she just outright attacked. No remarks, nothing.”

    “You think there’s some sort of reason for that?”

    “Hard to say. She couldn’t have a tie to Project Freelancer. She looked too young. But anything’s possible.”

    “And what about what was **_in_** the warehouse?”

    Washington sighed, “Simmons was the only person that could’ve known. None of us speak Spanish so I doubt we’d get anything from Lopez. So, as of right now, I’ve got nothing. Could you pick up anything in the document from before?”

    “Only that something wrong is definitely going on with them. They’re hiding something not just from us, but from UNSC too. That attack on us was them making sure we don’t find out. All I can pick out from the documents is that it’s something with equipment.”

    “You think that’s why they have Iris and that other person that attacked Simmons and Lopez?”

    “They didn’t sport standard UNSC wear, so I’d say yes.  Their line-up of men is definitely strange. Most of them seem to be leftovers or rejects from UNSC.”

    “Leftovers and rejects?”

    “Those that didn’t get to fight in The Great War and those from the aftermath. Although, after a bit more digging I found that their squadron had many volunteers as well.”

“This doesn’t make sense.”

“What I’m saying is that they took people that already signed up to fight, let some people volunteer, and it even looks like some were _**specially** _ chosen. They made sure to get specific people for what they’re doing.”

“Which brings us right back to the question of: what are they doing?”

“That we still need to figure out. I’m going to check the security footage that Church was able to secure from the warehouse. Maybe that can give us some clues.” Carolina stands up.

“Definitely strange….” Washington mutters.

“Speaking of strange, what do think of the Red’s new teammate?”

“Símon?”

“Yeah, her.”

“It is weird for this to just happen. Sudden relocation and replacement…”He looks up at Carolina abruptly, “What, do you think there’s something wrong with her?”

“She shows up as soon as we get back from trying to infiltrate an enemy base. I think that calls for a little suspicion.”

“I doubt she has anything to do with them. Was she in their line-up in the documents?”

“No, but they could have easily removed her in time.”

“Look, the way I see it. She’s just an innocent kid that got dumped here without a choice. Everybody else here has.  The way she was acting when we met her, didn’t exactly scream “threatening”.”

Carolina didn’t respond.

Washington continued. “We’re all just an aftermath of Project Freelancer. She was probably in line to be at one of the training bases, but when the project went down she was just hanging around in their waiting list until they found someplace to put her; which was here.”

“But, why was Simmons relocated?”

“Who knows? Could be family matter, something personal. Maybe he’s actually being debriefed and going home and just didn’t want to tell anybody so he wouldn’t be emotional.”

“.......”

Washington stands up. “We’ll take this one step at a time and figure it out.”

“We’ll have to start immediately to stay ahead of them. No doubt they’re probably already trying to get ahead of us.” Carolina walks off, leaving Washington in the kitchen.  

______________________________________________________________________

In an enemy base far away, Iris enters a room. Nilfheim and Major are already inside. Major is sitting at the far end of a table, Nilfheim is standing at the other end at attention, hands behind his back.

Major speaks, “Aw Iris, good of you to join us.”

“Of course, sir.” She replies.

“What have you called us for, sir?” Nilfheim inquires.

“I’m sure you already know. We need to discuss the recent events at Facility 011.” He says, pressing his fingertips together on the table.

Iris spoke first. “The enemy escaped, but did not obtain any information or any items from the warehouse. We made sure to take care of the evidence.”

“That is some good news. But, tell me. What else did you learn about our...enemy.”

This time Nilfheim spoke, “There were indeed two Freelancers with them. The one that was spotted before and another.”

“They weren’t much of a threat. I was able to apprehend 6 myself, driving them to escape.” Iris says.

“Did you fight either of the Freelancers?”

“Yes. I fought both of them. The one in grey armor has some skill, but not overwhelming. The other one however…….” She looked at the ground for a moment, gritting her teeth, “The one in blue armor poses more of a….challenge, per to say.”

“I see. And you, Nilfheim?”

“I apprehended one of the red soldiers and their robot, which was quickly dealt with. The red soldier proved a bit of entertainment. He definitely gave me an interesting fight. He seemed a bit strange as well.”

“And why do you say that?”

“When I first came upon him, he walked with a slight limp. And when I was fighting him, some parts of his body felt strange when hit.”

“Prosthetic limbs maybe?” Iris suggests.

“No, it felt harder and more stiff. Almost like the robot’s……..Sir, do you think?”

“That red soldier was in the equipment area. Are you certain he didn’t find anything he shouldn’t have?” Major asks sternly.

“He came across the Matter Transfuser, but I doubt he knew what it was. The poor lad looked completely lost. Besides, after our small tussle, the machine was damaged and exploded leaving no clues as to what it was.”

“It exploded?” The Major raises an eyebrow at this.

“Yes. It gave the red boy a bit of a hard hit as well.”

“This is most interesting.” He says leaning back in his chair. Iris suspiciously stares at him. “You are dismissed. We will discuss more about this matter. For now, though, I want you to find me more information on this Simmons boy.”

“Yes, sir.” They both reply. They exit the room, leaving the Major smirking slightly in his chair.

“This could be most interesting indeed.”

**  
  
  
  
  
**

 

   

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The plot begins to take shape and thicken. Why is Major so interested in Simmons? What are Grif and Simmons going to do now? What could the enemy be hiding?
> 
> I am absolutely so sorry for the wait on this chapter! I got caught up in so many things and continuous writer's block. It was eating away at me that I still didn't have it finished, but now it is. I stayed up till 3 am pushing myself to get the last of it written. (This chapter was way longer than I thought it was going to be.) In the hiatus time though, I did make the plans for the rest of the chapters so I don't have to waste time with that before starting a chapter now. I am confirming it now that I am not going to abandon this work. I'm going to keep updating it and finish it no matter how long it takes.  
> Thanks for being so patient and keep checking back for the next chapter. <3


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